Cindy
Masculine
Cindy is given to girls far more often — 257,294 girls against 771 boys since 1880. See Cindy as a girl name
Cindy is recorded for boys and girls alike and has at least three possible parents, none of which the record chooses between. The word it most obviously resembles is itself the result of two languages colliding in a spelling.
How old is the name Cindy?
Cindy first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Cindy alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 700 people named Cindy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cindy most popular?
Cindy peaked in 1957, reaching #1318 nationally. See the whole 1957 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Cindy
English had a perfectly good native word for the residue of a fire: sinder, with an s, related to the German Sinter. Then French arrived with cendre, meaning ashes, which came from the Latin cinis and is a completely different word. The two meant similar enough things that English speakers conflated them, and the native word kept its sound but took the French spelling, which is why we write cinder with a c and say it with an s. It is not a borrowing and it is not a native word; it is a native word wearing a foreign coat. A name beginning with a soft c is standing in exactly that spot.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Cynthia, Lucinda and Cinderella have all been proposed and they are unrelated names with different histories. The record holds this spelling on its own and does not indicate which, if any, stands behind it.
Pronouncing Cindy
SIN-dee
Two syllables with the stress in front and a soft c. There is nothing in it to get wrong.
Nicknames for Cindy
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1946
- Most boys named
- 195735 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1318reached in 1957
- Change vs 1998
- −37.5%5 in 2001, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cindys among us
people named Cindy are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Cindy sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is warm and instantly understood, which very few names manage on a first hearing.
- Five letters and two syllables, never misspelled after one telling.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it does not force a reading on anyone.
- It reads as a short form to some people, so formal settings will keep asking what it stands for.
- It belongs audibly to one stretch of the last century, which places it in time for most listeners.
- The three candidate parents are unrelated names, so there is no single meaning to give.
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Cindy
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Cindys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Cindy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cindy in 2025?
- Cindy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Cindy with classmates?
- Cindy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Charles#48 · Christopher#68 · Carl#1132 · Christian#96 · Caleb#58 · Cameron#76 · Carlos#150 · Clarence#1499
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cindy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cindy and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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